Review of The End of the Tour (2015) by Greg C — 29 Aug 2015

My first nominee for best actor for the 2016 Oscar season is Jason Segal. He so completely inhabits the persona of David Foster Wallace that you forget the somewhat slapstick ways that we are accustomed to seeing him. This movie is a "talker" ...in Minnesota... in winter, without the shtick of Fargo. Dramatic moments are a well turned phrase in a hallway or a diner. There are no chase scenes.

About last year this time, I saw Birdman. I thought it pretentious and insidery. There was a lot of high dollar vocabulary and metaphorically evocative phrasing. These kind of productions fly in the face of a kind of rampant anti-intellectualism that is raging in this country. (Hey, I like comic book movies too.) But in this case, I clearly like the result more. I liked this film from the opening moments scored by R.E.M's New Orleans Instrumental No. 1. It is so familiar yet not on the tip of one's tongue. Director James Ponsolt guides Segal and Eisenberg through a world of words and physical moment (postures and ticks) that is largely a story about jealousy. I was wondering for a while about from where the drama would emerge. It sneaks up right in front of you. This film has me wondering about my own television addiction and pondering the question, "Do Baptists dance?".